Tag: West Midlands

Specialist experience supporting young people with SEN and building trusting relationships;
I have extensive experience supporting children and young people with special educational needs, particularly those who have experienced anxiety, disrupted education, or negative learning experiences. I prioritise building trusting, respectful relationships by creating a calm, safe, and structured environment where learners feel understood and supported. By working at the individual’s pace and listening carefully to their needs, I help learners re-engage with education, develop confidence, and experience success.

Experience supporting Autism (ASC), ADHD, PDA, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia (DCD), Dyscalculia and associated needs;
With over 20 years of teaching experience, including 13 years in specialist provisions as a teacher, SENCo, and Senior Leader, I have extensive expertise supporting learners with a wide range of neurodiverse profiles. I use highly personalised approaches, adapting my teaching through visual supports, structured routines, scaffolded and chunked learning, reduced language, and practical, multi-sensory activities. I also incorporate learners’ interests to increase engagement and motivation.
I understand how these needs can affect processing, focus, organisation, and self-esteem, and I work with learners to develop strategies that support independence, emotional regulation, and confidence. This may include movement breaks, sensory supports, clear task structures, and strategies to strengthen executive functioning skills.  I understand that each individual profile and diagnosis, comes with unique strengths and challenges.  For example, when working with young people with PDA, I understand that they need to feel in control of their activities and I’m able to provide flexibility, in a contained way, to meet their changing needs day to day.

Experience supporting sensory processing, working memory, speech, language and communication needs;
I have significant experience supporting learners with sensory and auditory processing differences, working memory difficulties, and social communication needs. I adapt teaching to reduce cognitive load, using visual aids, repetition, retrieval practice, and overlearning to strengthen understanding and retention. Where appropriate, I incorporate sensory strategies and movement breaks to support regulation and engagement. I also support expressive and receptive language development through carefully scaffolded communication, helping learners build confidence in expressing themselves and interacting with others.

Experience supporting SEMH/ mental health needs and emotional wellbeing;
I have worked extensively with learners who experience anxiety, including those who have been out of education or affected by trauma. I understand the importance of building confidence gradually through positive, predictable experiences. I support learners to develop resilience, recognise their strengths, and build self-esteem alongside academic progress. My approach focuses on helping learners feel safe and capable, enabling them to take small, meaningful steps forward in their learning.

My experience working with young people with challenging behaviour;

I have extensive experience in working with children and young people who have been unable to remain in mainstream provision due to their presenting behaviours.  I always look beyond the behaviour and aim to understand what the behaviour is communicating in terms of need.  By addressing this need and using an emotional coaching and trauma informed approach, I’m able to support the child to work towards self-regulation.  I am patient, resilient and never shame the individual for their presenting behaviours.  Over time I aim to build positive working relations with the individual, enable them to better understand themselves and to be motivated to engage in positive learning experiences.

My experience working with young people with complex and/or medical needs;

I have been based in diverse educational environments, including mainstream and specialist provisions and also within the hospital environment for young people with complex mental health diagnoses, including psychosis and schizophrenia, eating disorders, personality disorders and complex PTSD.  I believe the approach should be the same as for any learner; to build relationships and to understand what they need to feel safe and engage in meaningful learning experiences.

Experience teaching Science, Maths, English, and core curriculum subjects (KS2–KS4 and beyond)
As a Science specialist, I have over 20 years of experience teaching from Key Stage 2 through to A-Level Biology. I am highly skilled at making learning accessible through practical, hands-on approaches that make concepts meaningful and engaging. I am also confident teaching Maths up to GCSE level and supporting English, literacy, and numeracy across Key Stages 2–4.
I have taught in a range of settings, including specialist provisions, homes, and hospital environments, and I work collaboratively with schools and families to address gaps in learning. I personalise lessons to each learner’s interests and learning style, helping to increase engagement and promote deeper understanding.

Experience supporting early years development (EYFS)
As an experienced teacher, SENCo, and Thrive-trained practitioner, I have a strong understanding of early child development. I use child-led, play-based approaches to support communication, emotional development, and early learning skills. I create nurturing environments where children feel secure, allowing them to explore, develop confidence, and build strong foundations for future learning.

Experience teaching study skills, executive functioning, confidence and independence
I support learners to develop essential study skills, organisation, and executive functioning strategies, including planning, task management, and maintaining focus. I work collaboratively with learners to develop personalised approaches that make learning more manageable and less overwhelming, with the long-term aim of promoting independence and self-confidence.  For younger learners, I can support the child's development to focus on, and switch between tasks, simple problem solving, making choices and emotional regulation.

My experience teaching community support and outside activities;

As an educator in a wide variety of learning environments, I have extensive experience in considering development beyond the classroom and curriculum.  I am able to create action plans to target the holistic development of an individual, considering life skills, resilience and key stages of transition for the learner.  I am person led and can be a ‘rock and resource’ for a young person to provide support as they navigate through different stages of their education.  I am particularly enthusiastic around practical activities, for example, gardening and cooking, which I believe can be really impactful.

Experience developing motivation, engagement, and a love of learning
Many of the learners I support have experienced challenges that have affected their confidence and motivation. I specialise in re-engaging learners by creating personalised, meaningful learning experiences tailored to their interests and strengths. Through practical activities, clear structure, and positive reinforcement, I help learners rebuild their confidence, develop resilience, and rediscover enjoyment in learning.

My specialist experience working with young people with SEN to develop trusting and meaningful relationships

Having a naturally calm, positive and caring persona has enabled me  to develop strong and trusting bonds with all the SEN young people I work with. I work one-to-one online with a young person with SEN and in my current school I teach a specialist SEN group of children. I find creating a strong relationship with the individual child one of the real pleasures of educating children, as it is only in this way that a child can flourish in their learning, which is what I have done successfully throughout my teaching career. From the outset I get to know the young person with whom I am working, talk to them about their interests, understand how they like to learn and then use this information to build personalised learning outcomes for them through activities that they enjoy and in which they see purpose.

My experience working with young people with ASC (autism)

I have extensive experience of working with young people with ASC having taught in over 7 different secondary schools including teaching in secondary schools in Solihull and Birmingham local authorities. Currently I provide one to one tuition to a young person online who has autism and PDA  and we have built up an excellent rapport through me developing a strong understanding of his interests (computer games and politics) and then using these to enthuse him in his learning.

My experience working with young people with Anxiety

Providing gentle reassurance and having a naturally calm manner have enabled me to excel in the support of students with Anxiety. I believe in creating a learning environment where a child does not feel under pressure to accomplish tasks in a rigid timeframe and in enabling a young person to direct their own learning through the incorporation of their interests. Currently I work with a young person with PDA (pathological demand avoidance) and he has flourished by being able to lead the learning where my role is to add in key pedagogical opportunities when they arise.

My experience working with young people with learning disabilities

The key to effective working with young people with learning disabilities is the provision of support that enables each young person to be accomplish their goals and be independent. I have had much success in supporting learners who have learning disabilities in the form of visual, physical or hearing impairments. When working with a young person with learning disabilities I advocate the adoption of a calm, supportive and patient approach rooted in a thorough understanding of their learning disability. In this way a young person can flourish, where my role becomes that of a facilitator to enable to them to triumph.

My experience teaching Functional Skills (English and Maths)

In order to teach French and German one must have an extensive and complete understanding of the English language, which is something I possess. When teaching English I am able to use my expertise to explain in a child-friendly, engaging and creative manner the learning content. My A-level in Maths means that I am well-qualified to teach Functional Maths and I am passionate about linking Maths with the wider world as this motivates children, because they can then see the purpose for their learning.

My experience teaching Social Communication and Language skills

As a linguist I have a huge repertoire of skills needed to enable students to build strong social communication and language skills. I see all interactions as opportunities to improve a young person’s ability to communicate and I subconsciously teach this by modelling effective communication through the use of tone and visual gestures. Above all I ensure that I understand the young person whom I am teaching by speaking to all adults involved in their care and building upon their knowledge.

My experience teaching Community Support and Outside activities

In my teaching career I have organised a huge number of days out as well as residential trips in the UK and abroad. From visits to the Cologne Christmas market, a trip to the French Opal Coast, a tour of Villa Park, a trip to Disneyland Paris and a student exchange trip to Germany, I have vast experience in the organisation of outside activities and am highly proficient in the completion of all safeguarding documentation, risk assessments and necessary travel arrangements.

My specialist experience providing engaging sessions to inspire a love of learning

Children in my care thoroughly enjoy their learning and are motivated in their lessons. I have a vast array of teaching techniques and ideas. For example, I have used Lego to teach about The Berlin Wall, made jigsaw puzzles to teach meanings of words, used the  Quizlet and Kahoot online learning platforms for in-lesson competitions, played netball in French and used Katy Perry’s “Firework” song to learn a German verb.

I am passionate about incorporating students personal interests into lessons in order to build up a rapport with them, so that they feel comfortable in their learning environment and so that they can explore new things through the medium of their own interests.  Most importantly, though, is the need to quickly change an activity that a child starts to lose interest so that they remain enthused by their learning.

My skills and experience supporting young people to develop their independence.

In order to support a young person in developing their independence it is essential to have a calming approach, which encourages trying and sees all attempts that have not quite gone right as key learning moments. In every session I explain to the young people how they can do a task themselves, then build upon this independence by gradually taking away the support. I model all activities by using the “I do”, “we do”, “you do” methodology.

My specialist experience working with young people with SEN to develop trusting and meaningful relationships; As an educator for many learner’s with autism, my experience has profoundly shaped my methods of supporting SEN pupils. It has provided me with priceless perspectives that improve my ability as a tutor and have reinforced my compassion, patience, and communication abilities. I aim to provide adaptability when working with students with autism spectrum condition (ASC) and all children with additional needs, fostering their academic development while adjusting to their diverse requirements in social interaction, communication, and behaviour.

My experience teaching young people with ASC/autism; I have taught many children on the autistic spectrum, both in mainstream and specialist provisions. I have created bespoke learning plans for each student based on their individual needs and have a good understanding of the individual needs of my students. As each child with autism presents with vastly different strengths and needs, I have learnt that building a relationship is key to children making accelerated progress – every session with my students is an opportunity for me to better understand and adapt my provision for that child to maximise progress and success.

My experience working with young people with severe anxiety; I believe that creating a safe, consistent and calm environment and routine is key. I make sure that I am able to provide the routine needed by my student but also offer the flexibility that might be needed to accommodate their needs. Clear and open communication is important when understanding what factors affect my students learning and understanding. I collaborate with parents and guardians to make sure that I have a clear understanding. I take a patient and persistent approach- I provide all the space and time needed for my student to work on the concepts that they are engaging with and make sure that the resources are not overwhelming nor overstimulating but at the same time, provide an appropriate challenge in an engaging way. I encourage positive self-talk and I do this by modelling appropriate praise and encouragement throughout my teaching.

My experience teaching GCSE Maths, English and Maths functional skills; I have a BA in English Language and Literature in education, enabling me to equip my students with the skills and confidence to analyse language, write creatively and understand what they are reading. My pupils develop great comprehension skills and a keen eye for reading between the lines, making inferences and predictions confidently. I am a passionate writer and foster the love of writing by modelling to my learners extensively. Often, learners will watch me write as I commentate the thinking, editing, proofreading process out loud. I have taught Language and Literature and Maths to GCSE students. With my extensive primary training, I find that teaching GCSE maths and functional skills to young learners that are neurodivergent, becomes second nature. I use similar techniques, working with manipulatives, gamifying maths lessons and providing quizzes to encourage my learners. I have successfully supported young people and adults achieve Functional Skills exams in maths and am experienced in teaching from functional skills from levels E1 to L2. For higher levels (L1 and L2) I focus on worded question comprehension, and identifying the key information needed to be extracted to carry out the mathematical process. For a neurodivergent child, these tools can really help to understand abstract concepts in a concrete and visual way. I love using games, quizzes and lots of repetition in maths, keeping the tasks and resources simple and clear.

My experience teaching Community Support and Outside activities; In my current role, which I have been working in for over 6 months- my duties include taking my young person out into the world and interacting with other children, adults and environments. We enjoy driving to new, local spots and taking our learning outdoors. I love exploring the town – and if you are lucky enough to live in Birmingham with me then I have many gems to share with my young person! As a home educating mum- there isn’t a spot in Brum that I have not explored!

My experience working with young people with social Interaction/ communication needs; I have extensive experience in teaching children who have social communication and interaction needs. I use a variety of communication strategies such as objects of reference, visual supports, and spoken language to ensure accessibility and encourage effective communication. I focus on developing social communication skills through a range of personalised strategies. I use social stories and comic strip conversations to help children understand social situations, manage interactions, and develop social skills. Social skills and friendship interventions are also integrated into my sessions to support the development of relationships and peer interactions. Additionally, I employ structured interventions to improve play skills, using motivating activities that include role play, pretend scenarios, and sensory elements. I offer children regular opportunities to engage in play, including the introduction of new objects and themes to spark creativity and language modelling.

Building on child-led play is central to my approach. I follow the child’s lead, extending ideas and modelling actions to encourage independence and social interaction. I also provide regular opportunities for turn-taking games, supported by visual aids like turn-taking boards to help children understand and participate in the activity.

 My experience working with young people to boost their confidence and self-esteem, providing engaging sessions to inspire a love of learning and supporting young people to develop their independence; This is a particularly personal issue for me as a home educating mother and business owner of an alternative provision for home educating families. I believe that traditional schooling isn't always equipped to foster independence, resilience and using initiative. I therefore made the choice to home educate my children and provide them with opportunities to express themselves in ways that were fitting to their personalities and learning styles. I believe spending time in the real world, shopping, role playing, visiting heritage sights, growing food in an allotment, working with children of different ages are all valuable experiences that need to be curated and facilitated by a passionate adult such as myself. I believe in invoking curiosity by engaging with nature, having sensory experiences that cannot be experienced inside four walls and using ones hands to build, create and explore. Creating a curriculum that is challenging but also inspirational, that reaches out to the child and pulls them in, is one of my biggest achievements. Being a home educator that provides and implements my own curriculum to many other families, I have a wealth of experience that I bring to my tutoring of SEN children. I am deeply passionate about making learning a joyful experience that boosts confidence and builds resilience. I particularly love facilitating open ended challenges, projects and tasks that enable a child to move in which ever direction their mind and body takes them, with no fear of judgement or failure.

My specialist experience providing engaging sessions to inspire a love of learning; I have had the freedom and opportunity to implement my own curriculum for many years now. My style is often nature centric, sometimes immersed in fictional fantasy but never boring and frustrating. There are infinite ways to convey the same message, learning objective or skill. Creatively choosing activities and resources that present themselves as a beautifully, curated challenge or play is an important skill that I possess. This does not mean that my activities are all elaborate, expensively resourced or extensively researched. Often, I simply think like a child and imagine how the learning will feel, with simple resources that have impactful outcomes. The little wow moments are often enough to inspire and engage a child in their learning. Children like to be challenged, if a child is frustrated, it is often not because the work is too hard and that they don't want to be challenged. It is simply that the teacher hasn't yet been able to take the steps to understand the child's prior knowledge and understanding, to be able to then provide the building blocks to support a child with an appropriate challenge. Understanding my student contextually is key to engaging them and something that I do well.

My experience working with young people with ADHD/ADD; I have extensive experience teaching children and young people with complex learning needs and challenging behaviours, who are developing at different rates. Many children that I have taught throughout my career have needed a personalised approach to teaching and learning to help them reach their full potential. I am confident in my ability to provide consistently high-quality, engaging, and challenging learning experiences, while maintaining high standards of care, to enhance the progress and success of all pupils. I have a particularly personal experience with children with ADHD, having taken my son out of school to home educate him and provide him with an environment that wasn’t overstimulating and disruptive to his learning. I have developed a personalised curriculum for his needs as an ADHD child to enable him to engage and focus deeply on his learning without being mistaken for unbothered, daydreamer and unable to follow instructions. I had quickly realised that my child is a chronic doodler like myself and needs to keep his hands busy in order to still his mind. I have deep appreciation for children that get intensely bored sitting still as I was once that child and now, I have my own.

My experience teaching primary English literacy; I am an English language and literature within education graduate with a BA (hons) from the University of Birmingham. This subject is a passion of mine, particularly analysis of texts, creative writing and reading for pleasure. I have spent many years as a year 6 primary teacher, developing children’s writing skills through well thought out resources to engage and inspire young, disinterested pupils. I chose texts that my children could relate to and felt drawn towards and it was important to always provide lots of modelling, examples and suggestions to help my pupils build their confidence. I believe that English can come to life, with the right materials! Lot’s of inspirational visuals, model literature, short video clips and physical objects can help inspire young people to write some fantastic texts. I love to widen children’s vocabulary through fun games and quizzes and help them unlock their writing potential by invoking curiosity.

My experience teaching primary Maths; Maths is one of my favourite subjects to teach- partly because it was the hardest subject for me to learn! I believe this has enabled me to understand the misconceptions and the challenges young people are faced with when learning maths. The abstract concepts and loaded word problems can be mind boggling at the best of times- but add in a neurodiverse child and maths can become even more challenging. This is where I employ a variety of games, quizzes, gadgets and believe in lots and lots of repetition! When maths becomes fun it can seem much less daunting- building confidence and removing fears is a priority when tackling maths successfully.

My experience teaching young children with sensory and/or auditory processing needs: Many children with SEND will also have heightened sensitivity to the world around them and so it is important to first identify their needs through observations and discussion with parents/carers. I believe that it is important to recognise early signs of stress caused by sensory overload. Tutoring sessions will aim to minimise sensory overload where possible, and ear defenders (for auditory processing) can be worn as needed.

My experience working with young people with SEMH needs: Supporting children with SEMH needs is something that’s really close to my heart—not just in my work, but personally too. When I was younger, I had my own struggles with mental health, especially anxiety. With the right help, I slowly learned ways to cope and feel more in control, both emotionally and in school. That experience has stayed with me and really motivates me to be the kind of support I needed back then—for other young people going through similar things.

When I’m working directly with students, relationships come first. I try to create a space where young people feel genuinely accepted and never judged—based on the idea of unconditional positive regard. I believe in tuning in and being present with a young person. When they feel truly seen and understood, they’re more able to understand their own emotions, handle tough moments, and make choices that work better for them. I’ve seen time and again how this kind of support helps young people build confidence, get back into learning, and grow real resilience.

My experience working with young people with PDA; I have had experience working with young people with a PDA profile, particularly among autistic students. Many of my learners tend to respond most positively when demands are presented in a creatively disguised manner,  allowing pupils to feel a sense of control over tasks or situations. The key insight I have gained is that PDA behaviours are often driven by anxiety. As such, it is essential to support these students in managing their stress, helping them feel safe and comfortable. My most personal experience comes from my own daughter, who from a very young age has exhibited many signs of PDA, that until I started teaching other children, I didn't quite understand. It lead to frustration for both parent and child alike and has resulted in a 7 year battle, to understand and implement strategies at home that work with my daughter instead of against her. Building a trusting relationship, where the safety and respect of her big emotions are the centre of our communication has helped us immensely.

 My experience working with children with dyspraxia; Many dyspraxic children experience difficulties with handwriting, writing, planning, organisation and presentation of their work. Therefore, I focus on teaching different multisensory strategies.

Students need to learn and use different types of plans for different types of writing and I try to match planning strategies to their individual learning styles. Learning to plan and use planning strategies when writing is a crucial skill.

I focus on gathering ideas in a visually stimulating way using scrapbooking styles, mind mapping or creating posters that help pupils organise their thoughts and ideas graphically. I believe that young learners are more motivated to record their research if it is organised in a memorable and engaging way. I encourage my learners to utilise these skills independently and confidently.  They are extremely effective for stronger visualisers as many children rely on visuals to help them think about what comes next and what to say when they write.

I then introduce different writing frames as scaffolds to help students to organise their writing, build their own writing skills and reduce the fear of ‘blank paper’. I provide word banks to prompt and support with vocabulary or phrases.  They can consist of starters, conjunctions and sentence modifiers which offer students a structure for communicating what they want to say. Finally, I focus on drafting, review and revision, I teach children how to edit their writing by zoning in on one skill at a time, such as ‘capital letter detective’ or magnifying glass to spot missing punctuation, or highlighting spellings that they are unsure of.

My experience working with children with speech and language needs; Over the last decade I have supported students with a range of speech and language needs. Many students benefited from strategies like visual timetables, visual vocabulary banks, Colourful Semantics and Aided Language Displays. I have extensive experience with EAL children from all over the world, whose needs are different but equally complex. These experiences have helped me adapt strategies that can be used with children with speech and language delays. Learning basic Makaton and engaging in on-going training has been highly beneficial for myself and my pupils. Being able to communicate in a concise and clear manner is an invaluable and often overlooked skill that I pride myself on, making sure that I remove excess from my vocabulary and communication to aid in understanding.

My experience working with young people with selective mutism; My initial strategy is to always allow for non-verbal communication to ease the young person into our safe and trusting relationship. I believe that it is important to engage in one sided communication initially, giving instructions and support whilst not expecting a response. This allows my learners to feel relaxed and stops the learner from becoming anxious by being put on the spot. The option is always there to communicate through typing and whiteboards. Often, I provide multiple choice responses as this provides a bit of a safety net to reinforce the learner’s own answers and encourages them politely to pick a response. I have been working with young children with selective mutism over the last 2 years and I have learnt to not always assume what they mean and instead I encourage them by offering statements that they can confirm or deny. I have successfully encouraged my students from moving away from just gesturing to using verbal communication over the course of the year.

My experience as a Science co-ordinator, focussed on inclusion; As a science co-ordinator of a large public, four form entry school, I was responsible for the training of over 22 members of staff and developing a curriculum to engage over 600 children. Many of our children came from disadvantaged backgrounds, had English as a second language or a breadth of SEN needs. I was tasked with simplifying the curriculum, ensuring it was practical and covered key concepts that were accessible to all children. The science lessons and resources needed to be as thoroughly resourced for our children with SEN as any English or Maths lesson would be expected to be. Do we have practical resources to match the theory? Do we have enough material to inspire, invoke curiosity, to challenge our children and to demonstrate how serious we were about science? These pertinent questions lead me on a path to making sure our science provision was engaging and inclusive but also simple and impactful. This experience has  opened me up to the many STEM provisions we have at our disposal and helps me create and resource wonderful lessons.

My eagerness to adapt my teaching style and resources to help all children learn in a way that they can understand and enjoy is my biggest strength. I don't believe in a one size fits all curriculum and love teaching that involves nature, art and serenity. I have consistently exhibited strong leadership skills as a science co-ordinator centred around inclusivity and creating engaging learning environments.